Which Side Is the Drain On Relative to the Door Hinge?
On an Ella walk-in tub the drains are always at the end opposite the door. Stand where you will step in, facing the tub: if the door and seat are on your right, the drains, faucet and water supply are on your left, and if the door is on your left the drains are on your right. The hinge is not the reference point, because Ella names the configuration by the side the door and seat occupy, as Which Side Is a Left Drain Walk-In Tub? explains.
Why the Hinge Is the Wrong Thing to Read
The hinge is the most visible piece of hardware in a product photo, so it is natural to try to work out a tub's handedness from it. That is one of the common ways owners and installers get the side wrong. The rule that never changes is simpler: the door and the seat are built at one end of the tub, and the drains, the factory-drilled faucet holes and the water supply are at the other end. Name the side by where the door and seat are, taken as you face the tub ready to step in, and the drain side follows automatically.
Three other things cause the same confusion:
- Naming the tub by its drain side and its door side at the same time. A left drain tub and a right-hand door tub are the same tub.
- Product photos that show one configuration only, even though every model except the Front Entry is built in left-hand and right-hand versions.
- An older video that describes the door and the drains on the same side. Current product pages and drawings place them at opposite ends, and the opposite-ends rule is the one to rely on.
Door Side and Drain Side by Configuration
| Configuration | Door and seat | Drains, faucet and supply | What it means |
|---|---|---|---|
| Right-hand door tub, also called left drain | Right, as you face the tub | Left | Faucet holes are drilled at the drain end, opposite the seat |
| Left-hand door tub, also called right drain | Left, as you face the tub | Right | The mirror image; the door swing lands on the other side of the room |
| Front Entry | Door at the end of the tub | Single 2 inch drain with two ports; side not listed | Not built in separate left-hand and right-hand versions |
| LayDown tubs | Glass side door | Single brass drain; side not listed | A different drain layout from the seated models |
| Pet Spa, left-hinge or right-hinge | Named by hinge side; the hinge sets the swing only | 2 inch outlet under the unit, between the tub bottom and the subfloor, the same on every unit | The drain does not follow the door |
What the table means in practice: on a seated walk-in tub, choosing the door side chooses the drain side, and there is no combination where both sit at the same end. The Pet Spa is the one Ella product where hinge side is the ordering term, and there it changes nothing about the plumbing; the drain stays under the unit whichever way the door opens, as Where the Pet Spa Drain Is and Whether the Door Side Changes It describes. Carry the Pet Spa habit of naming by hinge over to a walk-in tub and you can end up with the drains at the wrong end of the room.
Choosing the Side Before You Order
- Stand where you will approach the tub, facing it and ready to step in. All left and right naming uses this view.
- Decide which side the door and seat should be on. Think about grab-bar reach, and check the swing of an outward door against the toilet and vanity.
- Place the drains at the other end. The faucet holes are drilled at the factory at the drain end, so a right-hand door tub has its drains and faucet on the left.
- Locate your house drain, but do not let it decide the side on its own. Roughly 3 inches of clearance beneath the frame leaves room for a 2 inch PVC line, so a tub with drains on the right can still connect to a house drain on the left under the tub. Most models use dual 2 inch drains ending in 4-port T-type bodies; your plumber connects the ports needed and caps the rest, with a 2 inch house drain recommended.
- Write the configuration on your order as the door side and confirm it with your installer. Should My Walk-In Tub Door Be on the Left or Right Side? walks through the same decision starting from the plumbing.
Check the Swing on the Door Side
Once the door side is set, the door style that comes with your model decides how much floor you need in front of it. Doors are not interchangeable, so you choose the swing direction by choosing the tub.
- Inward-swing doors need no floor space in front of the tub, so they suit small bathrooms and a nearby toilet. The Royal, Elite, Petite, Deluxe, Ultimate, Ultra, Companion, Escape and LayDown are inward only, and the Standard, Zen and Flow are inward only with the acrylic S-shape door.
- Outward U-shape doors on the Capri, Monaco, Front Entry, Mobile, Lounger, ShaK, Big4One, Tub4Two and Big4Two swing 165 degrees and need about 21 inches of clearance in front.
- The outward L-shape door on the Transfer family swings 172 degrees and needs about 36.5 inches of clearance. Its opening clears a toilet up to about 21 inches tall.
- A U-shape door that begins 28 3/4 inches from the wall, as on the Lounger, may still clear a nearby toilet. If the clear floor on the door side is under 21 inches, an inward-swing model is the safer fit.
Hinge Adjustments Never Move the Drains
Because the hinge is not what sets the configuration, nothing you do to it after installation changes which end the plumbing is on. A door that sits low, rubs, or stands away from the seal on one edge is corrected first by leveling and then, only once every leveling leg bears weight, by a small hinge adjustment. Why Is There a Gap on One Side of My Walk-In Tub Door? gives the order of checks. If you are unsure which configuration you ordered or own, send a photo of the tub taken from where you step in, your model, and a sketch of the house drain location through ellasbubbles.com/support, or call your Ella dealer or the team at (800) 480-6850.
Common Questions
Is a left drain tub the same as a left door tub?
Does the hinge side tell me which side the drains are on?
Can I order the drains on the same side as the door?
What if my house drain is on the door side of the room?
Will adjusting the hinges change which side the door is on?
Does the Pet Spa drain move when I choose a left-hinge door?
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